Devotion 12/20/08

Proverbs 20

Pro 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

-Here God warns us about the dangers of drinking. It is no secret that drunkenness is sinful in every way. But the age-old argument is whether or not it is okay to drink period. I, being someone who is very weak in the face of temptation, think even sipping alcohol is sin. In Brad Strand's study Bible, he has a study called "How to be great in God's eyes". The first point is not to resist temptation, but avoid it. Here are some scriptures used to back that up:

Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Here God is telling us that we should be diligent in watching out for temptation. You and I both know the flesh is extremely weak.

Luk 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Luk 1:14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
Luk 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

Here this is talking about John the Baptist. As many of you may know, he is the greatest man born of woman. I think that reputation alone should be reason enough for us to consider his example. God said he will be great in the sight of the Lord. Why? He then goes on to say he will not drink wine or strong drink. If John the Baptist, the greatest man born of woman, didn't drink, should we not do the same? Thing is, this principle can be applied to so many other things besides drinking. Anything that can tempt us should be avoided. Do not be fooled into thinking you are strong enough, because you aren't.

Pro 20:9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?

No one can, none at all.

Pro 20:11 Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.

I wish I would have known about this verse in my younger days. When I was younger, I didn't know any better. I didn't know I had to read my Bible (not that I would have), I didn't really know anything but going to church on Sunday. Not until we started attending Harvest Bible Church did my understanding start to expand and I began to see God's commands applied to me and not just older people. But, to be honest, if I had known about this verse, would I have done anything about it, given my immaturity? I don't know. Odds are against me. Right now I am struggling with a kid who thinks that because I didn't have devotions when I was his age, he shouldn't either. I try so hard to explain that doesn't matter because I didn't know I was supposed to. And I try to explain that he can't use me as an excuse when God asks him why he didn't read his Bible when he knew he was supposed to. I think this problem can be attributed to the way society has treated young kids. We always say they shouldn't be held accountable because they are young. We have diminished that half of our society due to our prejudice against age. But the Bible says even young kids will be held accountable. Sure, there are a lot of things young kids can't do, and shouldn't do. But as far as reading their Bible and praying, they should start getting that down now, because it doesn't get easier as you get older.

Pro 20:13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

God must have been thinking of the teenagers of our day when He inspired this verse.

Pro 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.

Oh how hard is this. Vengeance is of the Lord, but to me and most people, the Lord takes too long. What a great lesson in patience this is. But we must remember, when someone wrongs us, it isn't really us they wrong, but Christ. Think about it this way. As a child to your parents, whenever someone would mess with you or take advantage of you, who took care of it? I don't know about you, and to my complete embarrassment, my mom would make sure no one messed with me. I remember one time I was living in an apartment complex in Garland. I couldn't have been more than 7 years old. I would go out all the time and play with my friends. One day I was playing a friendly game of dodge ball, that soon turned unfriendly when some teenagers decided I was an excellent target. It didn't take long before I was hit in the face and sent home crying. Mistake. As soon as my mom saw me, she jumped in the car (she made me come with her) and went after those kids. She gave them a stern talking to that isolated me from all social interaction for the remainder of our stay there. To my mom, the kids had hit her in the face with a ball, and not just me. God is our Father, and He wants to take care of us. When we are wronged, they wrong God. We should take comfort in that and not consider it a burden.

Zechariah 5

Verses 1-4
This is the 6th vision in this book. According to the Strand Study Bible, this vision was meant to show God's people that even their sin would not stop God's Work, saving sinners. God promised Zechariah that those who did hinder the work of God would be cursed.

Verses 5-10
The woman that sat on the ephah was sin, or as the scripture says, wickedness. This represents the sins of Babylon that Israel had picked up in their seventy years of captivity. According to the Strand Study Bible, the purpose of this 7th vision was to show God's people that if they will continue to build the temple and sacrifice (picture of Christ's sacrifice, which in turn is God's work=saving sinners), they will leave those sins in Babylon.

Then the vision shows two women lifting the Ephah. They represented Assyria and Babylon, used in times past by God to carry God's people into captivity because of their wickedness.
(On a side note, this makes me think of something. Christians think that they can sin with reckless abandon. There will be no consequence because, HEY, their sin has already been paid for. But then I think about the Israelites. They are God's chosen people, and if you notice, whenever they would do something stupid they would be thrown into captivity or get lost for 40 years. After Christ's prophesied death, the Gentiles (i.e. you and me, if you aren't a Jew) were brought into the family.

Zec 3:10 In that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, you shall call, each man to his neighbor, to sit under the vine and under the fig tree.
Israel is the fig tree and we are the vine that was 'grafted in'. We are now apart of that circle. We are God's people. Look what God does to His people when they screw up!! If I were you, I'd think twice before doing something that has already been forgiven. Yeah, it's eternal consequence has been paid for, but as far as the earthly consequence, I'd watch out.